[APD] Re: Taking Things Apart -- Carbo Plus

["Ann Viverette" <annv777 at houston_rr.com>]

Thanks Scott,

Yes, it is the power cord, and that being the ground wire does make sense.
Obviously the other wire is still connected enough to make the thing work. I
checked the unit today to see if it was heating up, it was just a bit warm,
but I don't know if this thing usually runs cool to the touch or not.
Stupidly I did not drag the box out from under the stand to see if it was
easy to open up -- busy messing with adding some guppies to the tank. I'll
be there again on Wednesday and I'll take the thing home to look at then.
The whole tank is on a GFI switch and no one but me has permission to open
the lid, and the kids are pretty well supervised in this area, but it has
gotten me nervous.

I'm not getting much CO2 in the water, KH = 4, pH = 7.4, CO2 = 4.8 ppm, but
there is white stuff on the Carbo Plus unit and mist rising from it and the
plants are growing so something is working. It may be that the imitation HOT
250 is making too much surface disturbance. I have no idea what size that
outlet is, maybe length of tubing would minimize that agitation. Or is the
carbon not in the form of CO2 from this??

Four weeks from set up and the tank is looking pretty good. Not more than a
few specks of algae on the front glass. Four otos and 5 guppies in 40
gallons -- still massively understocked, with cories to be added soon. Still
hoping to locate shrimp, but not much algae so I can wait -- will Amano
shrimp eat baby guppies? I added root ferts today and iron and Flourish.
Swords are a bit pale and it may be time for nitrates, maybe the fish will
help.

Ann Viverette



> From: "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>
> Subject: Re: [APD] Taking Things Apart -- Carbo Plus
> To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
>
> You're talking about the power cord, right? And not the low
> voltage cord from the control box to the the carbo lock?
>
> I have not actually been inside a Carbo Plus (they're too
> small ;-) ) but a green wire on a power cord is
> conventionally reserved for the Ground connection -- white
> is for Neutral and Black for Hot. An item might run with
> the ground wire broken but the safety that the ground
> connection is supposed to provide is not there, which is,
> if an inernal short devloped and you were touching the
> case, the electricity would short to ground through the
> ground wire instead of through you.. Now, Instead of the
> ground wire, electricity might find that your body is the
> best path to ground. Also, some electronic circuits don't
> function in a stable and reliable way without good
> grounding.
>
> If you can fix it, do it. If not, then get it fixed or
> replace it. It should be an easy fix, remove a small bit of
> insulation from the green insulated wire and reconnect it
> to where it used to be connected -- the stub of the
> original connection is probably still there, as if to say,
> "Hey, over here, the ground connects over here!" Of coure,
> you'll have to gain access to the connections to do this.
>
> Water and electricity are a mix that deserves the utmost
> respect and care.
>
> And always unplug the electrical unit before attempting to
> work on it.
>
>Scott H.




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